14/02/2017 100 Days


14/02/2017

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Hello and welcome to One Hundred Days.

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Just three weeks into the new US administration and there is already

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The National Security Adviser Mike Flynn did speak to the Russian

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And later withheld that information from the Vice President.

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The evolving and eroding the level of trust as a result of this

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situation and a series of other questionable instances is what led

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the president to ask for general Flynn's resignation.

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the White House last month that General Flynn had not told

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Why did the president sit on that information for three weeks?

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Democrats are demanding an investigation into

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President Trump's team and their contacts with Russia.

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We want to know, by what authority did General Flynn have these

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conversations and who did he report to after that?

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It's a story that points to confusion at the top.

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On Flynn, the White House advisor Kellyanne Conway gave us one story,

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So who really does speak for the President?

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And the Israeli Prime Minister arriving in Washington to start

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a new relationship with the White House.

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Iran, Hezbollah, Syria and settlements.

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This story begins at the end of December.

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President Obama had just imposed new sanctions on Russia

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in retaliation for Moscow hacking the election.

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Donald Trump's senior foreign policy advisor, General Mike Flynn,

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hopped on the phone with Russia's ambassador to discuss the penalty.

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Now US law bars any private citizen from conducting foreign policy.

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But the greater mistake was to mislead the Vice President.

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The National Security Advisor told Mike Pence that sanctions never

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came up in his calls with the Russian Ambassador.

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The conversation had been bugged by US intelligence, disproving

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In his resignation letter, Flynn sai, "Unfortunately,

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"because of the fast pace of events, I inadvertently briefed

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"the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information

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"regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador."

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Not telling the truth exposed the President's highest security

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advisor to potential blackmail by the Russians.

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And the Justice Department said they warned the White House

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about Flynn's problem back in January.

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Well, in the last few minutes, the White House press

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secretary Sean Spicer has been taking questions.

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Do the president instructed to talk about sanctions? Absolutely not.

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The president had no problem with him attracting -- acting in

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accordance with his job. As has been noted, that is what the National

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Security Adviser does, they begin the process of preparing their

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incoming job by talking to counterparts and the blue previously

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held the job. If he had not done that, there would be questions as to

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its proper preparation on day one. The issue is not what he discussed,

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there has been a legal review of that and there is no issue. The

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issue isn't whether or not he failed to properly inform the vice

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president or not be honest with him or not remember it. That is the

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issue. When he lost trust with the president, that is where he asked

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for and received his resignation. Well, there is definitely a lot

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of damage control taking place Yes, but the administration may be

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better off without General Flynn - he's been a lightning rod

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for a while now. I've been taking a look at the road

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leading up to this resignation. A 25 in the first casualty of a

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trump White House scandal. Michael Flynn, a retired US Army three star

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general is no stranger to controversy. In 2040, president

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Obama fired him because of its extreme views on Islam. Flynn said

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it is rational for Americans to fear Muslims and called the Islamic world

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and epic failure. Before the election, the general made his views

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clear to me. Radical Islamism is like communism or Nazism. We are

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facing it right now, it is for real and we have seen it expand around

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the globe. He was one of the first and only senior national security

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figures to endorse Donald Trump. It earned him a lot of loyalty. Former

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director of the defence intelligence agency, Michael Flynn. The

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Republican national convention, Flynn gave one of the most

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red-blooded speeches, criticising Hillary Clinton. Yes, that is right.

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Walk her off. If I did a tenth of what she did, I would be in jail

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today. He hosted conspiracy theories on social media and compared Clinton

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to be Al-Qaeda militants in Iraq and Afghanistan. But what finally pushed

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him out what is too cosy relationship with Russia. General

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Flynn lied about his pre-inauguration discussions with

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the Russian ambassador. And then he put the vice president in the

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awkward position of also lying on national television. Never a great

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way to protect your job. The story of Michael Flynn suggests confusion

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in the White House. Over the weekend, the president said he knew

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nothing about it. His top policy adviser declined to say the boss

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still backed Flynn and then hours before he was kicked out, trump

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councillor Kellyanne Conway said this... He does it enjoyed a full

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confidence of this President's curious relationship with Russia and

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what it means for America. Our North America editor

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Jon Sopel is here. It is about personnel I want general

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Flynn said to the vice president. The story of loyalty from the

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president himself. Do you agree it is a style America was matter

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relationship with Russia and the White House relationship with

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Russia? One of the most striking things for

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me, is not what happened to Mike Flynn, it is the attempt to recast

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what Donald Trump's stance is toward Russia. Sean Spicer says no one has

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been tougher toward Russia. We have been really tough and yes, we want

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to have better relations below what we have done. Maybe I've not been

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paying attention and sometimes in classes, as a school boy I was

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guilty of that, but I can't help thinking of what? Sorry? Really?

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Have I missed all of this? And I think there was a recognition of so

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much of what Trump is doing is playing well with his pace, Mexico,

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the border, the travel ban, all going down grey. But cosying up to

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Russia? I suddenly felt the reverse thrust button being appalled at the

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White House today to recast our relationship. We do not know

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behind-the-scenes what has been going on between Donald Trump and

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the Russians. But let me ask you about the personnel issue and the

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question of judgment. Michael Flynn, and I've heard this on countless

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members of the national security advisers, had extreme views about

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Islam, was too friendly with the Russians are not very competent

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either. Was it a good idea for president Trump to bring him in and

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then keep him on the three weeks after the Justice Department said he

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could be blackmail by the Russians? Like you, I remember going to

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reception and there were a whole group of foreign policy experts and

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they were all saying Flynn? Really? Are you kidding me? Do they know his

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views and that is a conspiracy theorist? How will you temper that?

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But he had been as you said, the first senior national security

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person who backed him. There was loyalty. They thought alike and were

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ideological soul mates and Trump probably thought he gave him heft.

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But he was an insurgent, rescued from the outset and ultimately

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proved deeply damaging and therefore the decision... The other

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interesting thing was this morning it was being said that Donald

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Trump... That he resigned of his own volition, but it's become clear

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Donald Trump said you can go quietly or I push up. He was fired. He was

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fired. The other issue is that the illustration you for 17 days and we

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now hear that the transcripts were brought to the White House counsel

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with all the consequences are risks that it it entailed for Flynn. Yet

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when the president was asked about it, this was his answer. What you

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make about the general Flynn conversations with Russians about

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sanctions? I don't know about it. What report is that? I don't know

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anything about it. I haven't seen that. I will look at that. He

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doesn't offer any and so on the most important part of that question. He

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says he's talking about the Washington Post article. That was a

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piece of elegance footwork by Sean Spicer in the news conference. No,

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no, President Truman knew about the issue because we've just said we've

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been looking at it since it was brought to our attention adding

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acted in a general three weeks ago. But Trump was saying he wasn't aware

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of the article and his answer was solely related to the Washington

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Post article. They are difficult questions. He does look as though he

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was the lie that has cost Mike Flynn and his job, it is being found out.

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It is the 11th commandment that Moses carried down on the stone

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tablets, thou shalt not get caught. There are so many angles we need to

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get to. Let's bring in Olga Ivshina

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from the BBC's Russian Service. Yesterday, the spokesman for

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President Putin denied that Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador had

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spoken about sanctions. And now we have Michael Flynn's resignation

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because he has spoken about sanctions. So the Russians were not

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telling the whole truth? Welcome to the club. They have quite a long

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record of that. One of the most famous examples is back in 2014 when

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the Russian president first said there is no Russian service

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personnel in Crimea and then he said, yes, of course there were.

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They were helping conduct the referendum. I guess that Moscow's

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lesson is that if you are lying, remember what you are lying about

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exactly and keep going. He refused to comment today and said it was an

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exclusively internal matter for the United States refused to comment.

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But he is still there, doing his business. It is interesting to note

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that the Russian Foreign Ministry has not commented. Some Russian

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officials and MPs ahead of the foreign committee on the upper

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chamber commented and used the Cold War language, saying it is a

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witchhunt, is Russian -- anti-Russian sentiment. Sean Spicer

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just said he was the problem about the discussion about sanctions, but

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the lack of trust. If sanctions had been imposed on November, would they

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have retaliated? Did they retaliate in the past when sanctions were

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introduced and why not this time? It is a good question. We don't know

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the answer. From Mr Putin's points of view, it was quite unexpected,

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because he usually follows a hard-core policy. This time, yes, he

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said no, we are not retaliating or sending out diplomats. We don't know

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what made him think so. Maybe on the other hand he is known for

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interesting steps and he does like to get Trump cards out of his

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sleeve. Well, now, he is probably waiting for signs from the Trump

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administration, because at the moment, the signals which Moscow has

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received were conflicting. Thank you. I would love to know whether

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the Russians agree with the idea that this administration has been

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tough on Moscow. We will return to that.

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Let's go to Capitol Hill now and speak to Congressman Adam Kinzinger,

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a Republican from Illinois who sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee

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How seriously are you taking all of this from a national security point

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of view? It is serious. I think the question of what conversations did

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he have is important to answer, but I think general Flynn and the

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president today did the right thing by saying you have become a

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distraction than it is time to resign. And that is where we are at.

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I think having discussions is an incoming ministration with the

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future could you going to be working with is not improper in itself.

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Weather was an proprietor is in try to talk about our ministration under

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Barack Obama that will implement sanctions, let us talk about what

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looks like and the next administration. I think when he lied

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to Vice President spends about it, he went out on Sunday shows and

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defended him and became a major distraction and he did the right

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thing and the president did so in asking for his resignation. You

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served to macro terms in the Iraq war as an American military service

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member. Users in the Iraq war as an American military service member.

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Users on the Foreign Affairs Committee and I'm agitator

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relationship with Russia very seriously. Will you and your fellow

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Republicans push for an investigation into what happened

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with Michael Flynn and more generally, into the Trump team's

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relationships with Moscow? There's the oversight committee who are

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investigating the idea of what do Moscow do in the campaign. To the

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extent there is relationships in the administration we even knew this.

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Many are saying we need to call for a massive investigation. The reality

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is, what he did was wrong. It was arguably illegal, based on this

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Logan act which has not been enforced yet and then he resigned

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and he is done. The question from now is, the broader issue is what is

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this administration doing about Nato and Russia? What we have seen us

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been solid. Mike Pence will be in Germany this week reassuring Nato

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allies and challenging them to me that 2% commitment to GDP. Nikki

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Haley said we will not really sanctions until you get out of

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Crimea. Directions have been solid. Some will say we need to investigate

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every infraction, I think that is a bridge too far. The president has

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also said that America is no more guilty than President Putin when it

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comes to the issue of murder. It is not true what Sean Spicer just said

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in the White House, that the president has been tough on Russia.

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Right. Well, look. I think the administration is being tougher now.

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I've been critical of the somehow moral equality between the US and

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Russia. We will be critical when those comments come out and I think

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they are damaging. But on the broader scale of reassuring Nato and

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the European initiative and in terms of calling for liberation of Crimea

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and a return to the Ukrainian people, this has been very much a

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departure for the last administration. Where there is

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involvement we will find out, but in terms of saying we need to launch

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major investigations every time someone resigns as it will paralyse

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this administration from going on and doing what we need to do to

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restore the West's role in the world. Part of a problem yesterday

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using one story from Kelly and Conway -- Kellyanne Conway and then

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another story from Sean Spicer and then at the end of the day, we get

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the resignation. It looks chaotic. Like they are always on the back

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foot. Yes, it does. And with conflicting messages, it is very

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bad. But there is there something in mind. This is a new administration.

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If you look at the Obama administration and the Bush

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administration and any administration prior, there are

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hiccups. Is an entirely new Government. 5000 new employees.

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There will be difficulties. Right now, there are problems in the

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national security council. My hope is now the Flynn has resigned and he

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is a very honourable man, I disagree with him Russia, but he did a great

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job in Iraq and Afghanistan, the now they're ministration should take a

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deep breath and hopefully we will see that. But you keep saying that.

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You said the distractions, many self-inflicted, could well help the

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President's ability to move forward with a new agenda. And here we are a

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fortnight later saying the same thing. Yes, I agree. And I would say

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what I said there, too. But again, no matter how far we are into the

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administration, it is still early days. I hope the communications team

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gets together with their message and get straightened up in the process

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and the actions we have seen and the people we see in these positions,

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with the exception of the general Flynn, are outstanding. When the

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message gets tied together and we get past these hiccups, either you

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will see a very strong USA and a strong president trying to regain

:18:39.:18:41.

the lesser role in the world which has been lost frankly over last

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eight years. Thank you. Let's get more from Ellen Nakashima,

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the National Security Reporter from the Washington Post and one

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of the journalists who broke I wanted to ask you is something on

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the actual phone call itself. How much do we know about what general

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Flynn talked... Talked about with the Russian ambassador? We know that

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the general outlines of the phone call, on about December the 29th,

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the day the Obama administration imposed economic sanctions and the

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punitive measures against Russia for its interference in the 2016

:19:25.:19:31.

presidential election. There was a summary of the calls and the content

:19:32.:19:38.

of them prepared by the FBI and circulated along the top national

:19:39.:19:40.

security officials in the Obama administration. That indicated the

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contents and the nature of the call but not the bait in the transport --

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transcript. Speaking to former senior officials who have seen the

:19:55.:20:01.

summary, we understand that general Flynn, while he may not have

:20:02.:20:12.

given... Made it clear that he felt Russia should not overreact to the

:20:13.:20:18.

sanctions imposed, because the incoming Trump administration would

:20:19.:20:21.

handle it when they took over. So there was a suggestion that they

:20:22.:20:28.

would somehow ease up on Moscow wants the Trump administration came

:20:29.:20:32.

in. The idea is that there would have been a recording of these

:20:33.:20:36.

conversations as will other Russian side and they were concerned, the

:20:37.:20:39.

intelligence agencies, that if he was lying and trying to cover his

:20:40.:20:43.

tracks, then he would be or could be blackmailed by the Russians at a

:20:44.:20:48.

later date. He had been compromised. That's right. And not only that is,

:20:49.:20:55.

but the ambassador sent a cable or a ripple back to Moscow summarising

:20:56.:21:00.

the contents of the call. So they did know what was discussed and

:21:01.:21:05.

other topic of sanctions came up. It was a main topic of the call, not

:21:06.:21:08.

just something that came up in passing. Do we think it talks to the

:21:09.:21:15.

ambassador with the authority of the best of the transition team if it

:21:16.:21:20.

was the bulk of the conversation? I believe Sean Spicer said today that

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President Trump did not direct him to make the call, but he would

:21:29.:21:32.

certainly know generally the outlines of the foreign policy and

:21:33.:21:39.

as you've been discussing, its friendliness towards Moscow and

:21:40.:21:41.

desire to get on a good footing with the Kremlin. So whether or not he

:21:42.:21:48.

did this expressly at the directional President Trump, there

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is no evidence of that. Thank you. Fascinating. The bulk of the call

:21:58.:22:02.

was the issue of sanctions, and it's hard to see how general Flynn could

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forgotten that. Some of the day's other key

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developments: The UK Government has rejected a petition calling

:22:05.:22:07.

for Donald Trump's state visit It said it recognised the "strong

:22:08.:22:11.

views" expressed, but looked forward More than 1.8 million people

:22:12.:22:15.

signed the petition, which said a state visit would cause

:22:16.:22:18.

"embarrassment" to the Queen. A counter-petition calling

:22:19.:22:21.

for the visit to go ahead attracted The European Union's Brexit

:22:22.:22:23.

Negotiator has called for profound reform of the organisation,

:22:24.:22:27.

saying it always delivers Guy Verhofstadt, who used to be

:22:28.:22:29.

Prime Minister of Belgium, said the union had failed to tackle

:22:30.:22:35.

issues, including the migrant crisis He also said Brexit,

:22:36.:22:38.

Presidents Trump and Putin Around 200,000 people living close

:22:39.:22:41.

to America's tallest dam have been told it's still not

:22:42.:22:52.

safe for them to return home. The area around the Oroville Dam

:22:53.:22:56.

in northern California was evacuated after a hole was found

:22:57.:22:58.

in one of its emergency overflow channels, prompting fears

:22:59.:23:01.

that it could collapse. Authorities have managed

:23:02.:23:03.

to lower the water levels, but they don't know how long it

:23:04.:23:04.

will be before residents The half-brother of the North Korean

:23:05.:23:07.

leader Kim Jong-un is reported to have been killed

:23:08.:23:12.

with poison in Malaysia. South Korean media sources say

:23:13.:23:13.

Kim Jong-nam, who was 45, was targeted at the airport

:23:14.:23:16.

in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. The late Kim Jong-Il's eldest son

:23:17.:23:18.

is thought to have fled North Korea after being passed over

:23:19.:23:21.

for the leadership. I guess general Flynn got it easy,

:23:22.:23:38.

right? Yes, they were differently in other countries.

:23:39.:23:39.

Let's take a quick look at one of the President's tweets the two

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of us had been talking about before we came on air.

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"The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks

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"Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc?"

:23:48.:23:56.

It got me thinking. You can come to Washington as a disrupter and

:23:57.:24:01.

threaten to pull down the establishment and go on the

:24:02.:24:05.

offensive with the intelligence agency, but at some point, it come

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back to bite you. Interesting. Sean Spicer also raised this issue of the

:24:13.:24:16.

leaks as the president is concerned about it. What happens if he's on a

:24:17.:24:20.

major call with a foreign leader and that is leaked? This is a question

:24:21.:24:25.

of loyalty. There are people in the President's inner circle who are

:24:26.:24:27.

prepared to talk to journalists when they feel things are not going as

:24:28.:24:31.

they should or that there is a story they want to get out there. If your

:24:32.:24:36.

team is loyal, they do not leak. Someone, somewhere in the White

:24:37.:24:49.

House feels they have more to gain by giving the story is out. There is

:24:50.:24:51.

also the issue of friends. You attack everybody and general Flynn

:24:52.:24:53.

attack the intelligence agencies, the president has also done that, if

:24:54.:24:56.

you like that with everybody, at some point, you have no friends. And

:24:57.:24:59.

in this time, if you take on the intelligence agencies, they will

:25:00.:25:01.

come back to bite you. That is what we have seen in the Flynn story.

:25:02.:25:07.

Lots going on an investigation is still pending into those leaks. Sean

:25:08.:25:11.

Spicer saying he was very, very worried about the leaks.

:25:12.:25:12.

You're watching One Hundred Days, from BBC News.

:25:13.:25:18.

Still to come for viewers on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News -

:25:19.:25:22.

is America's relationship with Nato up in the air and was Donald Trump

:25:23.:25:25.

right to criticise fellow members for not paying their share?

:25:26.:25:30.

We'll speak to the former secretary-general to find out.

:25:31.:25:32.

And the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

:25:33.:25:34.

peace process have now with Donald Trump

:25:35.:25:40.

That's still to come on 100 Days, from BBC News.

:25:41.:26:13.

It is milder this week. A bit of rain around. Various cloud coming in

:26:14.:26:21.

off the Atlantic. No great amounts. One area of cloud will produce some

:26:22.:26:26.

drinks and drugs moving south to north overnight tonight. Many places

:26:27.:26:31.

of avoiding that. It will be a murky night with fog, too. More rain in

:26:32.:26:37.

the far south-west by the end of the night. Not particularly cold. 5-7d

:26:38.:26:43.

typical first thing in the morning. Wet across parts of Cornwall. Rain

:26:44.:26:48.

pushing it a Somerset, Wiltshire, south-western parts of Wales at 8am

:26:49.:26:55.

tomorrow. Further east and north, it will be a slow start. Grey and

:26:56.:27:01.

misty. Not dreadfully cold. None of the fog will be too widespread

:27:02.:27:06.

audience. Shari bursts in Northern Ireland. Scotland looking dry. The

:27:07.:27:11.

best of the sunshine as we go through the day on Wednesday.

:27:12.:27:16.

Elsewhere, the struggle to brighten things up for some of us. The rain

:27:17.:27:23.

pushes northwards. Some places seeing sharp bursts, others not

:27:24.:27:28.

much. But in the south-western parts of Scotland, something a bit

:27:29.:27:32.

brighter following. A milder one and double figures in a few spots. That

:27:33.:27:38.

feature wanders away and we look to the north for low pressure and some

:27:39.:27:42.

blustery showers as we get into Thursday, particularly for Scotland,

:27:43.:27:46.

Northern Ireland and the far north of England. Further south, things

:27:47.:27:51.

settle down. Nice on Thursday. Mr and fog first thing. Sunshine also.

:27:52.:27:58.

Temperature is doing pretty well Friday, high pressure. Normally

:27:59.:28:09.

means dry. Could be faulty. -- could be faulty.

:28:10.:28:17.

The best of the sun in the East. Thickening cloud and increasing wind

:28:18.:28:26.

and rain knocking on the door of the West.

:28:27.:30:05.

Just three weeks into the new US administration and already

:30:06.:30:08.

the President has had to sack some one.

:30:09.:30:11.

The National Security Adviser, Mike Flynn did speak to the Russian

:30:12.:30:14.

And later with-held that information from the Vice President.

:30:15.:30:22.

The evolving and erroding level of trust as a result of this

:30:23.:30:25.

situation and a series of other questionable instances is what led

:30:26.:30:28.

the president to ask for General Flynn's resignation.

:30:29.:30:35.

And we speak to the former NATO chief about the future

:30:36.:30:37.

of the alliance and if Donald Trump is right to demand more money

:30:38.:30:41.

The principle of collective defence is the very heart

:30:42.:30:54.

It binds the 28 members together, an attack against one ally

:30:55.:30:58.

is considered an attack against all allies.

:30:59.:31:02.

But does that solidarity still exist?

:31:03.:31:04.

On the campaign trail Donald Trump didn't sound all that convincing.

:31:05.:31:09.

That makes America's NATO allies nervous -

:31:10.:31:10.

as does Mr Trump's warmer relationship with Moscow.

:31:11.:31:14.

Appeasement might bring some short term stability but what about

:31:15.:31:17.

Here's a tweet from the former NATO secretary general

:31:18.:31:22.

"Giving up #Russia sanctions unconditionally will embolden #Putin

:31:23.:31:36.

and undermine security of Europe #dontbetrayukraine @POTUS

:31:37.:31:37.

And I am pleased to say Mr Rasmussen joins us from Copenhagen.

:31:38.:31:45.

The me ask about the events today. Does it worry you that even in

:31:46.:31:52.

transition, Michael Flynn was soft-pedalling on Russia are

:31:53.:31:54.

reassuring the ambassador to Washington that Donald Trump would

:31:55.:32:02.

perhaps go soft on sanctions? Well, first of all, I would like to thank

:32:03.:32:08.

Michael Flynn for his service, many years of service to his country, but

:32:09.:32:13.

obviously, this conversation raises a lot of questions about the Trump

:32:14.:32:25.

Administration is with Russia and taking into account Mr Trump's

:32:26.:32:32.

statements during the campaign and this has raised a lot of concerns in

:32:33.:32:39.

Europe. Back in January, you said that you had been encouraged by the

:32:40.:32:45.

Trump transition team and you felt it was an administration that was

:32:46.:32:50.

going to be more pragmatic when it came to issues like Nato and Russia,

:32:51.:32:57.

do you still feel that way? Yes, absolutely. I think Mr Trump has

:32:58.:33:01.

appointed some very good people in the security team. The Secretary of

:33:02.:33:12.

State of the secretary of defence, also the CIA director, all of them

:33:13.:33:22.

have made very reassuring statements on the US commitment to collective

:33:23.:33:28.

defence. Based on that, I am confident that when Nato will have a

:33:29.:33:33.

summit in May, it will be a summit that will send a very clear message

:33:34.:33:41.

to who is a concern, that the article five commitment, the

:33:42.:33:45.

commitment to defend all allies, is strong and unchanged. It is

:33:46.:33:51.

important that, because I am just reading here, are breaking news

:33:52.:33:55.

Lang, the Russian military aircraft came close to the US destroyer last

:33:56.:34:03.

week. The aircraft overflying a US warship, they feel emboldened in the

:34:04.:34:07.

east of Ukraine and in the east of Europe and it is important that Mr

:34:08.:34:14.

Trump stands behind Nato. Yes, absolutely. It is important that any

:34:15.:34:25.

doubts after their statement that Nato is obsolete, that any doubts

:34:26.:34:29.

are eradicated and I think that should be the main purpose about the

:34:30.:34:37.

upcoming Nato summit, to send two messages, firstly our commitment for

:34:38.:34:43.

collective defence is unchanged and secondly, the Allies, the 28 allies,

:34:44.:34:52.

seal committed to increasing defence investment. Let's talk about that.

:34:53.:34:55.

to you which I'm sure you're aware of - but for the benefit

:34:56.:35:01.

of our viewers, Nato members have agreed to spend 2% or more

:35:02.:35:04.

of their GDP on defence by 2024 - and these countries do: the UK,

:35:05.:35:07.

Estonia, Poland, Greece and of course, the US.

:35:08.:35:09.

However of the 28 Nato members, 23 don't spend as much

:35:10.:35:12.

on defence as they should - and there are a few surprises...

:35:13.:35:15.

Most notably, France, Germany and Canada -

:35:16.:35:16.

among the world's biggest economies and all in the G8.

:35:17.:35:25.

You are sounding confident about Donald Trump's commitment to Nato

:35:26.:35:29.

but you know and we have spoken about this before and during the

:35:30.:35:36.

course of this campaign, he tied commitment to article five, two

:35:37.:35:41.

countries spending that 2% of GDP on defence spending. This suggests that

:35:42.:35:44.

if they did not, he was not going to stand by article five. In I fully

:35:45.:35:54.

agree that European allies should invest much more in defence and it

:35:55.:36:01.

is embarrassing for the Alliance Toad in the Hole that's not the

:36:02.:36:05.

question. The question is does article five depend on them spending

:36:06.:36:13.

that money? No. That's important to send a very clear message to

:36:14.:36:19.

Vladimir Putin and who it may concern, that the commitment to

:36:20.:36:22.

collective defence is unconditional. It cannot be made conditional on

:36:23.:36:27.

financial contributions but having said that, in Wales, in 2014, Nato

:36:28.:36:36.

had a summit, in which we decided that within the next decade, all 28

:36:37.:36:43.

allies will live up to the 2% defence investment and I think, we

:36:44.:36:48.

should speed up that process, taking into account the new security

:36:49.:36:53.

situation in Europe. Can I take you back to Michael Flynn? From what

:36:54.:36:57.

Sean Spicer has been saying in the last hour or so, we cannot rule out

:36:58.:37:01.

that he was acting with the knowledge of others in the

:37:02.:37:04.

transition team when he was talking about sanctions and going soft on

:37:05.:37:10.

sanctions. Do you hope that this sends a warning signal to the

:37:11.:37:13.

administration that it might just change its tune on Russia? Yes. In

:37:14.:37:22.

my opinion, sanctions should be maintained. As a pressure on Russia,

:37:23.:37:31.

as long as Russia does not fulfil its commitment within the so-called

:37:32.:37:38.

Minsk agreements and as long as Russia continues to destabilise the

:37:39.:37:43.

situation in the east of Ukraine, we should maintain sanctions, if

:37:44.:37:48.

sanctions were lifted, we would lose the only possibility to put pressure

:37:49.:37:52.

on Russia that we do have. And I feel confident that if the President

:37:53.:38:04.

intends to lift the sanctions, then the US Congress would pass

:38:05.:38:07.

legislation that would maintain the pressure on Russia via sanctions.

:38:08.:38:13.

Thank you very much for joining us from Copenhagen.

:38:14.:38:14.

Let's turn our attention to the Middle East now and it's

:38:15.:38:17.

clearly on President Trump's agenda this week.

:38:18.:38:19.

He's due to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

:38:20.:38:21.

So, we thought we'd ask our Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen,

:38:22.:38:25.

to share his thoughts on the relationship of the two

:38:26.:38:27.

allies - and in particular, the contentious issue of Israeli

:38:28.:38:30.

The people who own this house have all sorts of problems because of

:38:31.:38:42.

where it is. That way there is Jerusalem and that way there is a

:38:43.:38:47.

Jewish settlement and over that way, on the other side of that wall, part

:38:48.:38:53.

of Israel's so-called separation barrier, is a Palestinian town of

:38:54.:39:00.

Bethlehem. All these problems, 20 or 25 years ago, were supposed to be

:39:01.:39:04.

sorted out by the so-called peace process. But there were years of

:39:05.:39:11.

negotiations and they all failed. So the question is will Donald Trump in

:39:12.:39:13.

the White House change things? Will he make a difference? He is an

:39:14.:39:17.

unpredictable man and the comments he made when he was running for

:39:18.:39:23.

office suggested that he would be a big supporter of the Israeli right

:39:24.:39:28.

and in Israeli political terms, right wing it means people who

:39:29.:39:33.

support hanging on to some or all of the territory that was captured by

:39:34.:39:38.

Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, 50 years ago. Since then, since he

:39:39.:39:43.

entered the Oval Office he has changed his tune a little bit. He is

:39:44.:39:49.

showing signs that what he wants to be is the big deal maker and that is

:39:50.:39:54.

how he sees himself. He says that a deal between Israelis and

:39:55.:39:56.

Palestinians as possible and it would take concessions by both

:39:57.:40:02.

sides. That is the deal that evaded all his predecessors and so, he

:40:03.:40:07.

might see himself, Donald Trump, President Donald Trump, the

:40:08.:40:09.

deal-maker as the only man who can do it. We might have clear

:40:10.:40:16.

indications of what is happening after President Trump meets Binjamin

:40:17.:40:19.

Netanyahu in Washington. When they talk, it could be that they spend

:40:20.:40:24.

much more time talking not about this place, but about Iran. Both of

:40:25.:40:29.

them have said that Iran is a big threat to peace in the Middle East

:40:30.:40:33.

and a big cause of war. It could be that that is the area they will

:40:34.:40:36.

concentrate on and that is the area they will talk about most. We will

:40:37.:40:42.

see. Jeremy Bowen report Imer and news coming in from the White House.

:40:43.:40:46.

We will get a press conference after that meeting between Binjamin

:40:47.:40:49.

Netanyahu and President Trump and I am willing to bet that another issue

:40:50.:40:54.

of personnel is going to come up because this is just coming into us,

:40:55.:40:59.

that the office of government ethics has sent a letter to the White House

:41:00.:41:05.

saying that it will investigate Kelly Anne Conway, do you remember,

:41:06.:41:16.

she said about Nordstrom, people should not buy the clothes after it

:41:17.:41:19.

was dropped. They have said it is a clear breach. She has -- here is

:41:20.:41:27.

another personnel issue. It is this feeling that Donald Trump is

:41:28.:41:32.

constantly firefighting. They are still to fill key posts at the White

:41:33.:41:38.

House, including medication 's director, scores of embassies are

:41:39.:41:41.

still waiting for their ambassador, it is all looking as though they are

:41:42.:41:45.

putting out fires and they cannot concentrate on what matters. That is

:41:46.:41:50.

the problem. They have got to fill these positions, it is not just that

:41:51.:41:56.

they -- there is personnel mis-management. We will see whether

:41:57.:42:00.

this ethics office investigation leads to. He has to fill these

:42:01.:42:04.

posts. It is like trying to run a company but you do not have the CFO,

:42:05.:42:10.

he has to get those people into position. We will see what we get

:42:11.:42:16.

tomorrow at the press conference. That will be quite an important

:42:17.:42:20.

relationship. They have talked about moving the embassy to Jerusalem. He

:42:21.:42:25.

did not have a particularly good relationship with President Obama.

:42:26.:42:29.

The Israelis are hoping that this will be a better relationship, but I

:42:30.:42:34.

think there will be some wariness because President Trump has rowed

:42:35.:42:38.

back on the Israeli settlements and warned him about them. Just one of

:42:39.:42:42.

the foreign policy issues Iran, China and Israel, he has already

:42:43.:42:47.

gone back on it. He is getting a dose of diplomatic reality. That is

:42:48.:42:51.

all from us for today. We will be back at the same time tomorrow and

:42:52.:42:55.

meanwhile you can follow us on social media. Goodbye for now.

:42:56.:43:00.

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